Elders Council in Conversation….8-9
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Elders Council of Newcas tle Older People working for Older People March - April 201 6 Issue 70 N ewcastle Budget Date for your diary! – age friendly? Once more, the City Council has had its funds cut by Central Government. This year, they had to find another £30,000,000 of “savings”, which they found partly by increasing charges and partly by cutting services. Particular areas of relevance for the Elders Council include: Elders Council a reduction of the social care workforce reducing levels of care and support in the Information Day home ‘The really useful day out!’ a cap on the allocation of carer support See pg. 10-11 closing the dementia care unit at Byker for further details Lodge withdrawing funding from Scrogg Road (a community mental health resource Inside this issue: Page centre) withdrawing funding to Age UK for Elders Council at Work ..........….. 3-7 supporting lunch clubs reduction in funding to general advice Elders Council in Conversation….8-9 centres Elders Council Information Day 10-11 withdrawing funding for telecare Elders Council Review….….…..14-15 - cont. - Things to do…..……................. 16-17 Volunteering …………………....18-19 Follow the tea cup symbol throughout Correspondence...…………20, 21, 27 the Newsletter to find various social Poetry Corner …………..…..… 22-23 activities. Why not Scam Alert………………………..…24 join in the fun? Contact Details………………….… 28 1 Newcastle Budget 2016-17 withdrawing funding for the Trades Register and handypersons service provided in Newcastle by Mears reducing hours for community hubs and library services reviewing neighbourhood wardens service reducing ward budgets, community teams and associated public meetings The Elders Council sent in its response to the budget proposals and the main points that we made are laid out below: 1. We have been working with the Council to build Newcastle as an age-friendly city; but this budget will make that harder. We believe that this budget, taken alongside other changes such as welfare reform and the Housing Bill, will exacerbate the inequalities in quality of life and healthy life expectancy in the city. 2. We are worried by the impact of the proposals upon preventive services such as information services, handyperson schemes, lunch clubs, Safe Newcastle and library opening hours. 3. We anticipate that the range and depth of the cuts to services which provide care and support to older people will result in people not receiving support in a timely manner and will build up demand for higher-cost services. 4. The proposals relating to cuts in adult social work and in care and support within the home, which will result in delayed assessments, tighter care packages and a withdrawal of funding for health-related services, will all have a significant effect on older people at a time when they most need support. It will particularly affect those people who cannot call on family, friends or neighbours to provide additional help and will undoubtedly result in higher demands on health services. In other words, we are pretty gloomy about the future for services for older people. We will therefore be writing to our MPs and Members of the House of Lords raising our concerns. We recognise that the City Council has no desire to make these cuts, which are forced upon it by Central Government, but that does not make them any more palatable. To read the City Council’s full proposals for yourself, go to: http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/your-council-and-democracy/budget-annual-report- and-spending/budget/budget-2016-17 . And to see the full Elders Council response, go to www.elderscouncil.org.uk . Although the budget consultation period is now over, if you have views and ideas on how we can make this a good city in which to grow old, please write in. Your views and experiences are important to us. 2 Elders Council at Work Health and Social Care Working Group Home Care Services Following the report about the future of home care services in the last Newsletter, members of the Working Group remain committed to ensuring that the views expressed at the Elders Council consultation event are taken seriously by the commissioners of services. Everyone is aware that while we are putting forward our expectations of what future services should be like, at the same time the City Council is having to reduce spending on services – including some of the services that enable us to live independently at home. It has been clear during our discussions that there is appreciation of some well-coordinated services, such as the Reablement Service, which helps people return to independent living after a stay in hospital. This programme is a good model of an integrated service (i.e., health and social care workers acting together as a team to provide support and care to prevent a return to hospital). As a result, there are benefits for those receiving this service, as well as saving the cost of a hospital bed. If only we could have more services like this. The discussion continues at meetings on Friday 19 February and Friday 18 March. Editors’ Note: Many of you attended an event on the ‘Future of Home Care Services’ at the City Library on 3rd December. The report of the event is now available on the Elders Council website. We have also submitted the report to Newcastle City Council, who are using the information to help them to set out the scope and quality of the services they will commission in the future. We have also sent the report to Healthwatch, who will incorporate the findings into the project they are currently doing on home care. A job well done by the Health and Social Care Group! Newcastle’s Wellbeing for Life Strategy was published some time ago and sets out five ways to wellbeing, i.e. Stay Connected; Be Active; Take Notice; Keep Learning and Give. A report is now available of the wellbeing programme promoted jointly by the Friends of Jesmond Library and local Elders Council members. Recognising that the Library is an important information hub for older people, a joint planning team has arranged a monthly series of meetings, starting in April 2014, on different aspects of ways to wellness. Each session has included information about WHY certain activities are important for wellbeing but then has gone on to practical details of HOW and WHERE it is possible to enjoy activities locally. Topics have included outdoor activities, art and music, crafts and hobbies, safety and warmth at home, keeping learning, and eating well – including a cookery demonstration by Real Food Works. Each session has attracted around 30 participants, who have enjoyed the social contact as well as the information exchange. The planning group plans to re-launch the programme in April with some new activities. In the meantime, the Working Group will be discussing what we can learn from this initiative and how Elders Council members can be involved in promoting wellbeing in their localities. 3 vElders Council at work Housing Group ‘I like living here’ exploring our housing options In the last edition of the newsletter, we mentioned that we are planning a series of visits to different types of specialist housing to give us an opportunity to find out about the different types of housing available in the city. We’ve been so busy that it is taking us a bit longer than we hoped to organise the programme. However, we are working on it and there will be further information in the next newsletter. If you are interested in this programme, please let us know so that we can keep you up to date with progress. Thank you to those of you who have already contacted us expressing an interest in coming along, we will be in touch as soon as the programme is finalised. Communication Working Group Listen in to your own special radio programme Everyone’s tomorrow – today! is the Elders Council radio programme that goes out on the first Friday of every month between 2 and 4 pm on the community radio station NE1fm (102.5fm). Your next two programmes will be as follows: Friday 4 March – Elders Council Information Day plus other news Friday 1 April – Keeping Fit & Well plus other news If you have difficulty in finding the wavelength 102.5fm on your radio, you can listen via the Internet on NE1fm Webplayer http://ne1fm.net/webplayer . We are keen to get our members’ views on our programmes, so please listen in and send in your comments. Email our co-ordinator at [email protected] or write to Steve at 166 Wingrove Road, NE4 9BX. Please include any suggestions for topics you would like to hear about. We are also looking into setting up a Listeners Panel which can provide direct feedback to our radio team. If you are interested in being a member of the regular Listeners Panel, then please email or write to us and we will get in touch with you. 4 vElders Council at work Older Person Friendly City City Centre We are still working on updating our report about the older person friendliness of the City Centre and keeping track of the current developments, such as changes in John Dobson Street and in Eldon Square. In the last Newsletter we asked for comments from readers about what you enjoy in the City Centre. Members of the Working Group have some examples, but we would still like to hear more from you. For instance, what makes a visit a good experience for you? Is it a visit to the Grainger Market? or sitting in Eldon Square? or going to the cinema? Please share tips for a good day out in the City Centre.